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United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres gestures during
an interview with Reuters at the United Nations Headquarters in
Manhattan, New York City, U.S., September 15, 2021.
REUTERS/Andrew Kelly
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The U.N. COP26 conference in Glasgow aims to wring much more ambitious climate
action and the money to go with it from participants around the globe.
Scientists said last month that global warming is dangerously close to
spiralling out of control.
"I believe that we are at risk of not having a success in COP26," Guterres
told Reuters in an interview at U.N. headquarters in New York on Wednesday.
"There is still a level of mistrust, between north and south, developed and
developing countries, that needs to be overcome."
"We are on the verge of the abyss and when you are on the verge of the abyss,
you need to be very careful about what the next step is. And the next step is
COP26 in Glasgow," he said.
Guterres and Britain's Prime Minister Boris Johnson will on Monday host a
meeting of world leaders on the sidelines of the annual high-level week of the
U.N. General Assembly in a bid to build the chances of success at the climate
conference, being held from Oct. 31 to Nov. 12.
"My objective and the reason why we are convening a meeting on Monday is
exactly to build trust, to allow for everybody to understand that we all need
to do more," Guterres said.
"We need the developed countries to do more, namely in relation to the support
to developing countries. And we need some emerging economies to go an extra
mile and be more ambitious in the reduction of air emissions," he said.
Monday's meeting, which will be both virtual and in-person, will be closed to
allow for "frank and open discussions" on how to deliver success in Glasgow,
said a senior U.N. official, speaking on condition of anonymity.
U.S., China Need To 'Do Their Part'
The world remains behind in its battle to cut carbon
emissions and the pace of climate change has not been slowed by the global
COVID-19 pandemic , the World Meteorological Organization said on Thursday.
Scientists said last month that unless big action is taken to cut emissions,
the average global temperature is likely to hit or cross the 1.5-degree
Celsius (2.7-degrees Fahrenheit) warming threshold within 20 years.
"Until now, I have not seen enough commitment of developed countries to
support developing countries ... and to give a meaningful share of that
support to the needs of adaptation," said Guterres.
Developing countries tend to be the most vulnerable to costly climate impacts,
and the least resourced to deal with them. For years, they have been
struggling to secure the funds to help them prepare for climate disruptions
that rich nations pledged in 2009 to ramp up to $100 billion annually.
So far, the money that has arrived has focused on emissions reduction rather
than adaptation. Of the $78.9 billion in climate finance transferred by rich
countries in 2018, only 21% was spent on adaptation, OECD data shows.
When asked whether companies that develop carbon capture technology should
have to issue patent waivers so those advances can be shared, Guterres said:
"Any development in that area should be a global public good and should be
made available to all countries in the world."
But he noted: "We have not yet seen results that confirm those technologies
will be a key element to solve the problem."
Guterres played down the impact that the increasingly rancorous relationship
between China and the United States - the world's two biggest emitters of
greenhouse gases - will have on their cooperation on climate change.
"They are a multilateral issue," said Guterres. "So my appeal to both the
United States and China is for each of them to do their part."
Links
- (AFR) UN chief urges 'rapid' emission cuts to curb climate change
- (The Times) World out of time on climate change, says UN chief
- (Xinhua) UN chief calls for immediate bold action on climate change
- U.N. says world likely to miss climate targets despite COVID pause in emissions
- U.N. climate change report sounds 'code red for humanity'
- U.N. chief urges China, US to keep bilateral spats out of climate fight
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